A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copywright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device having a secondary display with a mechanical display mechanism which reveals an award to a player in an exciting and entertaining manner.
Gaming devices currently exist with bonus rounds in which a player has one or more opportunities to choose masked bonus awards from a pattern or group of masked awards displayed to the player. When the player chooses a masked award from the pattern or group, the game removes the mask and either awards the player with a bonus value or terminates the bonus round with a bonus terminator. The outcome depends upon whether the player selects an award or a terminator.
In the above game, the controller of the gaming device randomly places a predetermined number of masked awards and terminators in the pattern at the beginning of the bonus round and maintains the positioning until the bonus round terminates. When the player selects a masked award, the player receives the value of the award, and the game typically displays a message that the player may continue and enables the player to select another masked award. The player then selects another masked award, and the process continues until the player selects a masked terminator. European Patent Application No. EP 0 945 837 A2 filed on Mar. 18, 1999 and assigned on its face to WMS Gaming, Inc. discloses a bonus scheme of this type.
Gaming machines also currently exist with bonus rounds in which the game selects or determines the player""s award. PCT patent application PCT/AU97/00121 entitled, Slot Machine Game with Roaming Wild Card, having a publication date of Sep. 4, 1997, discloses an example. In this invention, a slot machine having a video display contains a plurality of rotatable reels with game symbols. When the player receives a triggering symbol or combination, the game produces a bonus symbol. The bonus symbol moves from game symbol to game symbol temporarily changing the game symbol to a bonus symbol. If the change results in a winning combination, the player receives an award.
In the first known game, the xe2x80x9cgo-untilxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdo-untilxe2x80x9d bonus round can end quite quickly if the player selects a terminator early in the bonus round. The player blindly selects masked awards until selecting the bonus terminator, which is immediately displayed. The player knows nothing about the location of any particular award, and there is no logical incentive to select any particular masked award as opposed to any another masked award. Choosing a masked award also poses no risk to a previously accumulated award. That is, there is no incentive to stop selecting. The only logical course is for the player to continue selecting until selecting a terminator. The player""s involvement in the bonus round and thus the player""s level of enjoyment and excitement from the bonus round is thus limited.
The second known game has even less player interaction. The game completely determines the bonus round award, and the player has no affect on the outcome. The player is a mere observer to the bonus round sequence and participates only by receiving an award. In both games, the player is not prompted to calculate, weigh options, or explore any consequences of any action. To increase player excitement and enjoyment, it is desirable to provide a gaming device, and more specifically a bonus round of a gaming device, which prompts a player to calculate, weigh options and explore the consequences of the player""s selection.
In the known xe2x80x9cgo-untilxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cdo-untilxe2x80x9d bonus round, the game reveals all unselected awards and terminators associated with the pattern after the player selects a terminator. No specific reference is made as to how or in which manner the game reveals the unselected awards or terminators. Revealing the masks from selected and unselected awards and other gaming device components is well known in the art. No known game, however, reveals awards or other gaming device components in any particular manner or employs any particular method of deciding which awards to reveal first, second, etc. It should be appreciated, that in a game which prompts a player to calculate, weigh options, and explore the consequences of the player""s selection, it is desirable to reveal the consequences of the player""s selection in a manner that maximizes player excitement and enjoyment.
The present invention provides a gaming device, and more particularly a bonus round of a gaming device, having an award generation apparatus and method, whereby the game awards an initial award to a player, discloses to a player that a higher valued enticement award is available and selectable, and enables the player to selectively exchange the initial award for an opportunity to select the enticement award. The game preferably discloses the value of the initial award and the enticement award. The game masks the enticement award in a pattern along with one or more masked consolation awards, the consolation awards having values less than the value of the initial award.
In one embodiment, the gaming device masks the awards utilizing a mechanical display mechanism. The display mechanism masks the award with one or more mechanical doors until the award is provided to the player. The display mechanism opens the door or doors to reveal the masked award to the player in an entertaining and exciting manner.
The present invention provides the player with an option to keep the initial award or exchange the initial award for one of preferably three masked awards: a high value enticement award, an intermediate consolation award and a low value consolation award. The game can then repeat this sequence any number of times. The player selects a selector, associated with the player""s choice, i.e., an initial award selector or a selector associated with the desired masked award. The selectors are preferably displayed on a touch screen display device connected to the gaming device. The game thereby enables the player to simply touch the desired masked award.
If the player decides to forgo the initial award and elect to exchange, and selects the low valued award, the game reveals the intermediate award first, the selected low valued award second, and the high valued award third. If the player picks the intermediate award, the game reveals the low valued award first, the selected intermediate award second, and the high valued award third.
If the player picks the high valued or enticement award, the game preferably randomly selects whether to display the low valued or intermediate consolation award first and displays the high valued award third. The game reveals the awards in a predetermined sequence, which attempts to maximize the player""s excitement and enjoyment. If the player keeps the initial award, deciding not to exchange, the game can instantly reveal all the masked awards or reveal the masked awards according to the same predetermined sequence disclosed with respect to a player""s choice of the enticement award.
It should be appreciated that the game preferably applies two rules in revealing the awards in the manner previously disclosed. First, the game preferably never reveals the player selected award first. The game either reveals a player selected low valued or intermediate award second or reveals a player selected high valued award third. Second, the game preferably always reveals the high valued enticement award third.
The game preferably reveals the awards using the touch screen display device mentioned above. The game can remove a mask to uncover the award hidden beneath. Alternatively, the game can provide a separate display area, which displays the selected or, alternatively, a plurality or all the awards. In one embodiment, the game contemplates providing an electromechanical door and secondary display device, separate from the main display device, which opens up to reveal an award. The door can either be dedicated to a particular selector, or can open up to reveal an entire sequence of awards as described above.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a bonus round of gaming device, wherein the game prompts a player to calculate, weigh options, and explore the consequences of the player""s selection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gaming device that prompts a player to calculate, weigh options, explore the consequences of the player""s selection, and to reveal the consequences of the player""s selection in a manner that attempts to maximize player excitement and enjoyment.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.